A long lived quasi-linear convective system (QLCS) developed in northern and central Mississippi and tracked eastward through northern Alabama during the early morning hours of the 20th. A bow echo with a strong meso-vortex produced a long swath of wind damage from southern Franklin across Lawrence, Morgan, Cullman and Marshall counties. Numerous trees were uprooted or snapped, indicating wind speeds of at least 70 mph or higher. Trees were toppled onto two homes in Morgan and Cullman counties resulting in two injuries. As the bow echo continued eastward, numerous reports of trees and damage to small structures were reported. Following the storms, a meteorological phenomenon known as a wake low developed which produced a short period of damaging non-thunderstorm winds in Marshall County. A wind gust of 60 mph was registered with this system at the Albertville, Alabama AWOS station (K8A0). Several power outages were reported through the event.
A mesoscale convective system rolled through northern and central Alabama during the late evening hours of the 20th, and exited shortly after midnight on the 21st. Prolific lightning was generated with mainly elevated thunderstorms within the anvil region of this system across northern Alabama. A line of strong to severe thunderstorms extended south from the upper level circulation center which tracked east from northwest and west central Alabama. The storms produced sporadic thunderstorm wind damage, knocking down several trees in Franklin County. Most of the damage further east were tree limbs that did cause isolated small power outages. Although most areas received one half to one inch of rainfall, there were local amounts of one to just over two inches. This resulted in mostly nuisance minor street flooding, although one road was closed in Franklin County due to more substantial runoff.

Event Narrative

Damaging straight-line winds knocked down large trees and caused power outages in the Ruth community along Highway 231, north of Arab.